Many people enjoy eating or drinking, hot and cold food or beverages while traveling on vacation, or commuting to work. Many people also enjoy carrying food or beverages with them for an outing, such as a picnic or a day at the beach. Usually, these food items require refrigeration to prevent spoilage and/or to make them more enjoyable.
It is common for many people to keep such beverages or food in a container such as a thermally-insulated chest or cooler. However, insulated chests or coolers require ice or other cooling material to maintain the food or drink in a refrigerated condition, and frequently require the addition of ice or new cooling material. During a long trip, or after an outing, additional ice or new cooling material may not be available, and therefore, food items not previously consumed will either spoil or become unpalatable.
It is known that vehicle air conditioners can be used to cool food and beverages. Many of these devices, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 3,505,830, 3,916,639, and 4,478,052, are remotely connected to the air-conditioner via a hose or conduit which can easily be punctured or dislodged by the vehicle occupants. In addition, these devices occupy much valuable space within the passenger compartment. Furthermore, these devices are expensive to produce and are not easily portable.
One approach to overcome these problems has been the use of smaller devices which attach directly to the vehicle air ventilator. Such devices are exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,289 and 4,892,137. These devices, however, are neither portable nor insulated, and are therefore limited to use only in a vehicle. Such devices would not allow the user to remove the device from the air ventilator and transport the food or beverage items while keeping them insulated. If a user wished to transport the stored items outside the vehicle, it would be necessary to remove the items from the unit and place them in a conventional ice chest or cooler.
Accordingly, devices which overcome the drawbacks discussed above are being sought.